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A while ago, my husband tried to take some distance ed classes. The format was perfect for him- online and asynchronous, so he could complete at his leisure. Since he works full time, that was important. However, it soon became apparent that these classes were just NOT going to work.

photo credit: Wrote For distance education, as far as libraries go, it’s what’s online, not how many books there are, that counts.

He got through the first class OK, despite the fact that the teacher disappeared completely and a new teacher was brought in 2/3 of the way through to try and salvage the course. This class was a prerequisite for anything else- an information literacy course of sorts. I was eager to see what kind of class this would be, and I have to say I was appalled by it. The students were made to read horribly out of date information about the internet, information literacy, etc. Some of the tutorials were from 1997. The courseware, Web CT, hindered communication more than helping it. He was quizzed on such important topics as the vendor that provides the OPAC for the library (do students really need to know this?)

Despite this awful first class, my husband gave it another shot and signed up for two more classes. This time, the courseware software went down two weeks into the class for almost a week, and everything the students did during the first two weeks was lost. The students were encouraged to use student email, which was difficult to use and down often. Geoff ended up dropping the courses, and I can’t blame him. It helped, for him, that these were not classes he had to take- they were just an attempt to learn something new. I imaging the whole process would have been a lot more frustrating to a student actually working towards a degree.

Judging by comments on the web, my husband’s experiences are not unique- distance education is truly bad a lot of the time. Unfortunately, many times failure is attributed to the students rather than the university. What’s sad is, I don’t think it has to be this way. The tools are here to make distance education a rewarding and fulfilling experience, but colleges aren’t using them. I get the feeling that a lot of these online programs were implemented because someone thought it would be a good idea, with no planning, foresight, or expertise. Colleges seem to think that distance education is an easy road to more money, that distance ed is cheaper than “regular” education.

There are some savings to be had with distance education – facility costs, insurance, etc. But a lot of the costs stay the same or increase- teachers may be able to handle a 200 student lecture in face to face classes, but this gets unwieldy in an online setting. Courseware, even of the free variety, is expensive to host, maintain, and support. Ideally, schools will always hire a qualified instructional design professional to assist teachers in setting up and conducting online classes. Distance education needs to be systematically considered in ALL aspects of the college, not just mandated by administrators.

photo credit: piphoto Large seminar courses might work face to face, but might not work online.

I think whole school integration with distance ed it one of the best steps a school can take to making the entire experience more worthwhile. When I call the campus to figure out a financial aid or billing issue, I am often told to “just stop by so and so’s office, it is easier in person.” When I tell them that I am a distance student, they stammer a little and then give me a phone number to call instead. All departments need to be able to deal with the special needs of distance students. As another example, I am required to fill out a plan of study a year in advance, and then submit changes whenever that plan changes. This process was designed for the on campus student, who can just drop by their advisor’s office and take care of changes. Managing these changes through email is awkward and difficult.

Campus life is missing for distance students. It is obvious that campus activity committees never give distance students a second thought. I get several emails every day to my school email (which I have to maintain and check, because it’s where professors email me) talking about activities, study groups, and lectures on a campus I have never been to. As a distance student, I cannot serve in any official capacity to the student government or my college’s student association. I asked once about participating, and they talked about setting up an adviser position for the distance program, but it never happened. I am pretty lucky as a distance student, though. Many of my classes do meet once a month, due to a satellite education partnership between the University of Omaha and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Three people at my workplace are in classes with me. I can’t imagine how alone and isolated people with NO in person contact must feel.

Schools need to wake up and realize that distance education is not just a novelty anymore. Distance ed students usually pay the same, and sometimes more than, their on campus counterparts, but get a fraction of the benefits. Sometimes they get a fraction of the education. Many students never set foot on campus, and these students would benefit from other avenues for socialization- mailing lists for distance students, social spaces where students can blog, post photos and videos, and form study groups, etc. I think the trend toward on campus orientation at the beginning of the program is a good one.

photo credit: qbirdnumber1 It doesn’t matter how pretty the buildings are if a student is not on campus to see them.

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of this will change until students start voting with their dollars. It’s hard to determine, though, which distance education programs are good, and which, frankly, suck. Lacking a reliable rating system, students will have to do a little bit of leg work. They can ask question like:

• What is the courseware software? What version? When was it last updated? What is the uptime?
• What avenues are there for distance students to connect with other distance students?
• How big are the class sizes- what is the student to teacher ratio?
• Does the school employ instructional designers or others whose sole responsibility is to facilitate creation and implementation of courses? Is there tech staff available for students to call if they need help?
• What kind of computer/software will be needed? Are there license agreements to cut down on the cost of said software? How much freedom does the student have in picking their own platform/software?
• Will the student have to pay out of state tuition? (Some distance programs allow distance students to pay in state tuition)
• Are library resources geared towards distance students? Does the school have a wide variety of materials full text and online? How easy are these resources to find and use? Will Interlibrary loan scan and fax or email documents to off campus students when needed?
• Is there one or more dedicated distance librarians who work on a full time basis? Are there distance reference services (phone, chat, email)?
• Are the writing centers, health centers, and other student services set up to help distance services and answer questions?
• Is the school’s website easy to navigate? Can you find what you need? How’s the search? Is it clear from the website what the requirements are for graduating? Are necessary forms easily accessible online? A distance student might want a demo of the school’s accounting, grade, and other systems.
• Will the student be assigned an adviser? How many students does each adviser handle? Are the advisers trained to assist students (and especially distance students), or are advising duties just tacked onto other duties?
• Do the promotional materials they send you mention distance ed at all? Does all the focus seem to be on on campus students?

There are a ton of other questions a student could ask, but they’ll probably get a feel for a school by asking just a few. A badly organized distance education program will shuffle you around from person to person, and no one will know the answers. They might even get defensive. A good program, on the other hand, should be able to direct you to the right person for each question and should be able to answer with a minimum of fuss.

BTW, these ideas are hardly new. Articles back to 1997 have discussed evaluating distance ed programs. But I think there has been a rush to get more and more distance ed courses going, and little research into what such a move actually requires. Sad to say, I don’t think distance ed is much better today than it was 10 years ago, despite the remarkable tools and methods of communicating we have.

One of the hardest hurdles universities have to overcome with distance education is realizing that distance students don’t care about a pretty campus, student activities, campus food, parking or transportation. What we want is quality teaching by instructers that care and the technological infrastructure to back it up. Ideally, we’d also like some way to find fellow classmates to form study or discussion or just social groups. This might be as easy as setting up an online address book for all students, with a picture and a place to put a brief bio.

I will have another post later on that discusses the good of distance education: what are schools doing right? If you have good or bad stories to share, please do so in the comments.

karin :: Sep.12.2008 :: Uncategorized :: 4 Comments »

For an explanation of this post, see here.

When I think about a ‘dream job,’ sometimes it is as much about what the job is not as it is about what it is- in this case, a part time job that pays enough that I can make a living.

"Part time" by ubiquity_zh on flickr

I think part of this fantasy has to do with the fact that I’ve been busy these last two years and I’m starting to burn out a little. But a bigger part, I suspect, is the lack of time to work on my own projects. I have a huge pile of “someday” ideas I’d love to work on.

So what would I do with the extra 20 hours a week?

• Paint – While the free artwork project has given me a push, I’ve yet to take off a new project like my Monoliths series. I want to have time to really explore some things I’ve been thinking about.
• Build things – furniture mostly, but maybe get into sculpture a little.
• Get involved – you know, the basic community building, local stuff I always mean to do but never get around to.
• Design a class- I’ve been toying with the idea of doing an online art class similar to 5 weeks. I’d also like to teach a class through my neighborhood association or parks and rec or something similar.
• Read – I have SO MANY books I want to read, so much I want to learn about.
• Research – Whether or not I land a faculty position, I have some research I’d like to conduct. Actually, the research I’d like to do might be easier outside the tenure/faculty system, because I’m not 100% sure my interest mesh up with what might be acceptable for a librarian tenure folder. Plus, then I’d have something to show if I do apply for a tenure/faculty position- at least prove I can do research.
• Learn – I’d like to get another Master’s after my library degree, but I don’t ever want to do the full time work/grad school thing again.

Beyond these things, which wouldn’t make any money (or not much), I have a few money making ideas I’d like to try out

• Consulting – I’m not deluding myself into thinking I’ll be a big time hot shot consultant, but I do think my insight could be valuable. I could also make myself available for short term projects, which I think could be very fun.
• Starting a small home business – My husband and I have had several ideas for home businesses. I’d like to explore some of them, or at least do some research.
• Take on other part time jobs – Having one part time steady job that paid enough would allow me to try out other, perhaps lower paying or temporary jobs with little risk.

This “dream job” has nothing to do with the job itself. It has to do with the freedom the job gives me to do other things. In essence, I would be buying myself out of 20 hours of work a week.

I think there are a lot of dream jobs out there like this- jobs that may not be ideal to read the job description, but are ideal because of extras- more time off, more professional development opportunity, more freedom to be creative and build the job your way. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be hard to get these intangible qualities from a job ad. If it’s half time, that’s pretty obvious, but some jobs offer flex time (which would also allow the time to work on some projects mentioned above), ample vacation time, or extra time for research. This is where researching and, especially, networking comes in- it helps to know people at various institutions so you can ask about the work environment.

This is probably one of my more attainable “dream jobs” – but I don’t think I’ll try for it until I have worked a few more full time jobs.

karin :: Sep.11.2008 :: Uncategorized :: 1 Comment »

I've started to write a book.... by lo83

Poor blog. so neglected. I’ve been thinking a lot about why I have not been writing as much. It’s not just the blog- most of my online presences have died down. Part of it, I’m sure, has to do with busyness. Although I am taking one less class this semester than last spring, the classes I am taking (copyright and programming) are more intensive.

Busyness isn’t the only factor, though. I’m afraid I have been suffering from a disorganized mind lately, which makes it difficult to write in any cohesive fashion. Why is this true now rather than previous semesters? I have some ideas:

One is that my classes this semester have less to do with each other. They also have a little less to do with librarianship in general- in fact, my programming class isn’t a library class at all- I’m taking it through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Sure there are ideas that tie these two things together, but in past semesters I’ve been able to find recurring themes between classes easier.

Another reason might be that as I am nearing the end of my school career, and therefore the beginning of my job searching, I am questioning what it is I want to do with my degree. Near the beginning of school, I could get caught up in theory without having to think about the practical application of what I was learning in a job. There was always that subtext, of course, but there was no one job to pin it to.

Speaking of job searches, I’ve been reticent to talk too much about the job search process on the blog. I’m not sure why this is. I have benefited greatly from other new librarian’s frank discussions of job possibilities and offers on their blogs. I suppose it feels a bit too personal.

My home life has been weird lately. Applying for jobs in various parts of the country have led me and my husband to confront the very real possibility that we may have to move soon. This has prompted us to start fixing all the things around the house we’ve put off- and when you start compiling lists of all the things you need to do to sell a house, the list gets scary fast. I worry that when the time comes, we won’t be able to sell our house, or that we will have to do so at a loss. (there are several mitigating factors for this) There have also been several conversations between me and my husband about where we want to live, where we could see ourselves being happy. The truth is, Lincoln has been pretty good to us- but I’m just not sure what kinds of opportunities I’ll have here. I’m not sure where that leaves us.

I miss writing here. I miss expressing thoughts that may not have an application to my current job, but that I find interesting nonetheless. The topics may change- as always, my writing will likely be related to my classes, so you’ll probably see stuff about programming and copyright. This space is still reserved for library related things- however tangentially – and you can find other thoughts on my personal blog, os-agnostic.com.

Thanks to everyone who still subscribes and reads my thoughts. I am constantly humbled by the fact that people actually want to read what I write. I hope I can continue to be as interesting as people have found me in the past.

karin :: Sep.09.2008 :: Uncategorized :: 2 Comments »